In My Remains
by GhostCarAd
Summary: "After the Green Flu reaches Colorado, the boys must fight to survive the zombie apocalypse, and struggle to maintain their humanity as the world around them crumbles." ButtersxKenny, StanxWendy, some light StanxKyle, TokenxNicole, CraigxThomas and if you squint your eyes really hard, implied one-sided CartmanxButters. M for guts, swearing and suggestive themes (not explicit.)


_**Alright, people, I know what you're thinking: "damn you, Ghostcarad, you're supposed to be writing that Hunger Games SYOT fanfic, not writing zombie ones!" I know, I know, but I still need more tributes before I can start writing that one, and this little idea came to me, so I thought, well, why the hell not? I mean, while I'm not publishing the HG fanfic, I'll be writing this one, and I hope you guys like it! ^^**_

_**By the way, I took some liberty with the status of the other countries and of the USA, don't know if that's game-accurate but I needed it for the story, so yeah.**_

_**Yes, the title was borrowed from a Linkin Park song, by the way.**_

_**THIS WILL CONTAIN YAOI/SLASH/GUY ON GUY LATER ON, YOU DON'T LIKE IT THEN GET OUT.**_

_**SOUTH PARK AND LEFT 4 DEAD DO NOT BELONG TO ME and blah blah blah. There, disclaimer applied.**_

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-You seeing any more of them outside, Stan?

Stan, in response to Kyle's question, turned around and looked out the window.

-Damn, I don't know – he replied, frustrated – It's too dark out there for me to see anything.

-Turn on the front porch lights on, then – Cartman suggested, approaching the light switch, but was stopped by Kenny, who grabbed his wrist angrily.

-Are you fucking crazy? – the blonde boy said, pulling down the bandana he had tied over his nose and mouth, to speak clearly. He'd done it out of fear of catching the zombie virus; so far, his friends, who all had their faces uncovered, hadn't shown any symptoms, but with _his_ luck, who knew? – It'll bring them here. This is the first house we've come across so far that wasn't crawling with those fuckers, and you wanna fill it with them?

-Fuck off, Kenny – said Cartman, aggressively yanking his arm out of Kenny's grip. – At least I'm _trying_ to help, unlike some _other_ people.

At that, the chubby teen shot a glance at Butters, who, sitting at a corner, lowered his head.

-Leave him alone, Cartman – Said Kenny menacingly, standing in front of Cartman. – He's scared and traumatized. His parents and probably most of his friends are dead, and the life he had is gone, so give him a fucking break.

-Oh, really? – Eric replied, his voice dripping with discontent and irritation. – Well, what about _your_ parents, Ken? Your brother? Your sister is the _only_ member of your family you've managed to find. My mom is also missing. Kyle and Stan's families are apparently trapped in the Community Center and we have no fucking idea where the rest of our friends are. So far it's me, you, Kyle, Stan, Butters and Karen, and as far as we know, Craig, Clyde Token, Stan's sweet little girlfriend – here Stan frowned at Cartman – and _all _the others are dead. So tell Butters to fucking man up because your sister has bigger balls than him.

Karen McCormick let out a deep, worried breath and crossed her arms, but said nothing.

-Yeah, but each of us deals with shit differently – said Kenny, his voice tone lower while he shot Butters a worried glance. – He's not you.

-Oh, I know he's not me, or else he would be doing something useful for the group instead of sitting down and crying like a little bitch. – Cartman shouted back.

Butters buried his head in his arms; Kenny, his patience growing thin, pushed Cartman's chest.

-I'm warning you, fatass, back the fuck off, or I'll make you – he said, his bright blue eyes shining with anger.

Cartman stared back with the same intensity for a few seconds before smiling with disdain and lightly pushing Kenny back.

-Whatever, man – he said, letting out a short, humorless laugh. – _I_ am worried about surviving this hell.

With that, he turned his back on Kenny and walked towards the window to look out.

Kenny breathed in deeply and ran his hand through his blonde locks. The zombie apocalypse had barely started and they were already fighting each other for stupid reasons. They wouldn't last long that way.

And that came out of nowhere, the outbreak. Sure, they had _heard _about the Green Flu in the news, but the damn virus should be at the southern coast of the USA, not at fucking Colorado. It got there when absolutely no one was expecting. That had happened less than 42 hours ago, yet the rest of the country had already gone to shit.

It all happened too fast. One minute the boys were hanging out at Stark's Pond and the other they were bashing one of those things' head in. Well, Stan and Cartman were; Kyle was too dumbfounded to do anything, and Kenny immediately ran home, as fast as he could, without waiting for the others – the only thing he could think about was his sister. He had _seen_ those things on the news, he knew what they were, and he knew that if one of them was there, there were more around. And if there were more around, his sister Karen definitely wasn't safe.

He found her hiding under her bed; she had seen some of them through her window, and, like Kenny, she had seen the news and knew what they were, what they being there meant. He searched around the house for the rest of his family, but couldn't find anyone else. So he grabbed Karen and got out of there, only to be met outside by the guys, Butters now accompanying them – they had seen him running down the street, fleeing his zombified dad, who was then promptly hit on the head by a crowbar Stan was brandishing as a weapon. He had also seen his mother turning, but ran before she had completely become a zombie. The guys then took him in.

The six of them had barricaded themselves in the town's Raisin's during the night, but had to get out in the morning due to complete lack of supplies – the place had apparently already been raided by other survivors that might have been on the run from South Park's recently infected citizens.

So they got out of town – no place in that small mountain settlement was safe; rumors spread quickly there, and so did the virus – and were currently in Denver, inside a house that appeared to have been left by the owners in a hurry; there were a couple of supplies left, enough for the boys to hide there for two days, and some other objects that apparently had no use for the people who live there anymore (like clothes, toys and other personal belongings.) Kenny noticed that all the photos and photo albums had been taken by the family, though. However, there were no weapons beside a baseball bat they found in a kid's room, an old woodsman axe and a rusty army knife. Kenny pretty much refused to go near the axe and knife and decided to stick with the baseball bat; it was safer for someone who had a propensity to have accidents. Stan ended up taking the army knife because Cartman was shorter and didn't have a long reach (nor speed or agility); the axe would be better for the chubby boy.

Once they were certain there were no zombies in the house, they barricade the place from the inside and turned off the lights – the Infected were attracted to shiny, bright things, and in a dark street, lights coming from inside a house would definitely bring them to the survivors – and it would be much worse if any of the Special Infected freaks were around.

The Special Infected were more dangerous and rare than common Infected – they had developed some sort of mutation that gave them abilities beyond seeing in the dark (and all the other shit common Infected could do.) The Hoodies, for example – like Kenny liked to call them, even though Cartman called them "Kennys" – had sharp claws and pounced survivors, clawing through their chests and ripping out their guts.

The Special Infected had started to show up in the South two weeks after the first infection, but by the time the Green Flu reached Colorado, they had already further developed from their initial state. Kenny assumed they had nicknames, like, classifications of such; he once heard a news report mention "Boomers" while showing a fat guy (who, Kenny was happy to remark, looked like Cartman) who was clearly not a normal zombie.

The report had mentioned other important stuff about the Flu: all southern states had been quarantined, Savannah had been lost to the zombies, New Orleans was being bombed. The South of the country had definitely gone to shit, and the military couldn't hold the Infected off, so the Flu was already spreading itself in the middle and northern states and in the north of Mexico. If that kept going, it would eventually reach other nearby countries such as Canada, Peru and Brazil. Maybe it couldn't reach other continents, though; maybe Japan, South Africa, Australia, were safe. Or maybe that crap was simultaneously happening everywhere else and Norway, France, Greek, every other fucking country was going through the same shit right now. But that would certainly show up on the news, wouldn't it?

Kenny wouldn't know. He tried to keep an eye on the news, but most of the time that wasn't possible; they were constantly running from one place to another, always having to watch their asses and pay attention to any supplies they might come across. He didn't have time to look for TVs and radios in which he could watch or hear the news.

Now, however, he had both time _and _a TV, so he decided it was best to check what was going on – the TV was relatively far from the window, far enough that its light wouldn't draw unwanted attention from the zombies, and, as long as he kept the volume low, neither would its noise. He took the remote on the counter and walked over to the couch, sitting on it as he turned on the TV, immediately turning the volume down.

It was only then that he realized just how tired he was. He relaxed on the sofa, pressing, with two fingers, the bridge of his nose, while eyeing the television lazily.

"…_we don't have many updates about the situation in other countries, but the governments still seem to be attempting to hold the Infection off, or at the very least slow it down. Portugal, Italy, Norway, England, Kenya, Australia, New Zealand and Germany still haven't been reached by the Green Flu, but are on high alert to any possible signs of the virus. Iceland's president says the country is perfectly safe and its population, healthy, but will not be receiving anyone who's had any kind of contact with the Infected and will remain cautious about the threat. Nigeria is quarantined while the military is trying to hold back the massive hordes of Infected that seem to be swarming the country. In the USA, Savannah and New Orleans have been quarantined and must be avoided at all costs, while Fairfield faces the possibility of a nuclear attack by the government, who can't seem to think of any other solution…"_

Kenny closed his eyes and let his had fall back, sighing again; it was _bad_, worse than he though. That shit _had_ reached other countries. Where would they go, then? Those countries that hadn't been affected definitely wouldn't let them in, the anchor said it so himself. If by some miracle they managed to somehow get off the continent, that is.

So what could they do? Look for the military? Kenny had heard there were evac stations at some points of the country, but the Flu had _just_ reached Colorado; the Army hadn't even had time to react to the Infected there, yet. Would they come? Would they help the survivors? Surely they wouldn't leave them there, they're supposed to help. That's what they were doing there, wasn't it, helping people? There was no one else the boys could turn to, now. CEDA had failed to contain the threat, the military was their only way out of this mess. But what about their families? Would the Army agree to go back to look for them? Kenny found that unlikely, but Stan and Kyle's families were still trapped in the Community Center back at South Park, with very limited supplies and too many people to share them. Kenny and Karen's family, along with Cartman's mother, were missing. The boys couldn't simply leave them behind…

Kenny turned off the TV and got up from the couch, walking over to Butters and sitting beside him. The kid raised his head to look at Kenny, his eyes red and puffy from crying, an inquiring and confused look in his face. Kenny joined his hands and tried to sound as casual and comforting as possible when he said:

-So. There anything you wanna talk about?

Butters only looked at him for a few seconds, then turned his gaze to the floor.

-Nah, thanks Ken. I'm okay.

Kenny let out a sarcastic, but not rude, laugh.

-Come on, Butters, you're obviously _not_ okay. I understand how you must be feeling, okay? Talking about it might help, so why don't you try it?

Butters stood silent for a few minutes before breaking into tears again.

-They're dead, Ken – He said, his voice almost a whisper. – They were all I had, and now they're gone. I mean, sure they grounded me a lot, and punished me too, but they loved me, and I loved them, and now they're dead.

He looked at the ground again, and Kenny reached out to him, offering a hug; Butters immediately buried his face in Kenny's chest, crying into his jacket, and Kenny wrapped his arms around the younger boy, giving him light taps on the shoulder. Sure, that was a bit uncomfortable for Kenny, but his friend needed him, and he would be there for him.

He didn't know how much time passed since he offered Butters some comfort; the others were silent, Butters was now asleep, his breathing evened out and his tears dry (he didn't let go of Kenny, though), and the TV was off. Karen didn't come to Kenny for comfort, though, so he knew she didn't want it – she always sought him out on her own when she needed him, and didn't like being bothered when she wanted to be alone – Kenny knew this was one of those times.

But now she was oddly silent. Kenny couldn't blame her, what with all that shit happening. In fact, she was being surprisingly brave for her age. He wondered if it went through her head that the rest of her family could very much be dead. It probably had. She was intelligent, and didn't need people explaining shit to her.

He looked at the window, still hearing the faint noises of the monsters outside, swarming the streets and buildings. Streets and buildings they'd spent the day running through. They definitely needed some rest.

Deciding they had enough for one day, he let sleep overcome him, while still holding Butters.

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**_Meh, I'm not really happy with how I ended that chapter, but what the hell, there it is. So, what do you think? PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS IF YOU LIKED IT (or if you hated it, really, I don't mind, but please give me some feedback so I can know if I should continue this)!_**


End file.
